Truth Within the Owl's Claw
by Carmen Veiga
Summary: Lily Cooper is an orphan with no memories of her past. After a certain monthly police interrogation, she can't shake the feeling that she still has family out there. Reunited with Sly, the youngest Cooper must train and hunt for... robotic owl parts?
1. Chapter 1:Lillian Joy Cooper

**Author's notes- **I'm so digging myself a hole right now. I have three fanfictions in progress right now, yet i just had to write this one. In this fanfic, my OC Lily Cooper is going to be Sly's younger sister like you read in the summary. I have all three games and I love them! I also can't wait for the fourth one to come out! If anybody doesn't know about this, go onto Gamespot and type in Sly 4: Thieves in Time, or something like that.

**I do not own Sly Cooper. If I did, I would put swearing in the game along with Lily and a lot of other stuff :P**

**nighthunter1220, a.k.a my boyfriend, is my editing bitch for this story and my helping with ideas department :) **

**Chapter One: **

**Lillian Joy Cooper **

A shadowed figure streaked across the rooftops, the bag of jewels held tight in one hand, and her cane in the other.

_"Freeze raccoon!"_ yelled the frustrated voice of the cop chasing her. He fired a few clumsy shots of his shock pistol, which she was able to dodge with great ease. The thief flipped off the rooftop and hid out of sight in the darkness below. He looked for her for awhile, however, he could not see her within the deep shadows of the night, and ended up leaving. When he did, she slowly crept out of the darkness and felt moonlight shine brightly upon her grey and black fur. She was a small raccoon, around the age of thirteen. Soft dove gray fur covered her body while dark brown hair fell halfway down her back. Her eyes were a deep, caramel color that seemed to glow whenever it matched another's gaze. Her clothing was a dark blue hat and gloves, complemented by a long sleeved blue v-neck shirt. Below were black sweatpants which covered her legs up to the knee, which met a pair of knee high blue boots.

The raccoon juggled the bag in her gloved hand, a smirk playing on her features. "Cops: 0, Lily Cooper: 100." she said proudly. She then pocketed the jewels and disappeared into the night.

**~.~.~**

_"Lillian!" shouted _the irritated voice of Ms. King. It was so powerful it woke the young raccoon and shook the room like an earthquake. She sat up as straight as she could in the hard wooden chair. "Yes, Ms. King?" she said, forcing down a yawn. It seemed as though the late night heists were starting to take their toll, leaving Lily with bloodshot eyes and a body that felt like rubber.

"Inspector Fox wishes to see you now," the old gray haired feline replied, gesturing to the familiar female fox, waiting in the doorway. Lily stood up and followed Carmelita through the crowded hallways of one of Interpol's police stations. Along the way, she saw many missing photos up on the walls and many documents soon to be filed under murder investigation. The sights reminded her of her own life's intersections with death.

Lily's parents had died when she was only a baby, or at least that's what she was told. She couldn't remember anything from her past, or from that night for the matter, all she remembered was the smell of blood in the air and the feeling of metal claws crushing her ribs. Ms. King, the headmistress of Worthington's Academy for Orphaned Girls, had told her only what _she_ had remembered from the night when the young raccoon had come to them. The cat had found Lily fast asleep in a basket on the doorstep to the Academy. In the basket was nothing but a note that had her name on it, and an oddly shaped cane. The little baby had been taken in and raised in the Academy for thirteen years. No one would adopt her, or those brave enough to do so were always met with the sight of an empty bedroom the next morning.

A year ago Ms. King had been taking the raccoon to Interpol once every few months. They explained to her that the visits were to help her find out about her past. Unfortunately, there weren't any documents of Lily, so the process had been long and tedious for everyone involved. Inspector Fox had constantly asked her if she could remember anything. Her answer was always the same: no.

Lily followed Carmelita into her office and took her place in the seat across from the fox's desk. Carmelita sat down in her chair and folded her hands, and had the usual stern look on her face. But instead of asking her if she could remember anything, as usual, she pulled out that day's newspaper and threw it down in front of Lily

"There was a report of a robbery at the Central Bank last night," the Latino fox explained while pointing to the front page. "The thief made off with a bag of priceless jewels. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you Miss Cooper?"

"No ma'am," Lily answered. Having being questioned this many times she had plenty of practice putting on the innocent act.

Putting the newspaper away, Carmelita turned her attention back to Lily and said "I'm sure that you know why you're here."

"To try to find out more details about my past, yes," she answered very nonchalantly.

The interrogation started out like it always had. Carmelita asked her a few more questions once again, relating back to the subject of her past and what little memories she had of it. After that was over, the fox brought out a manilla file from her file cabinet. Printed on the right hand corner was the raccoon's name and photo. Opening the file, Carmelita took out some pictures and laid them out in front of Lily.

"Our investigation team uncovered these photos a few weeks ago," she explained, "Do they look familiar to you?"

The raccoon looked at the first picture. Two faces stared back at her in a faded wedding photo. The groom was tall, with his gray head fur slicked back. He was wearing a tuxedo with what looked like a dark blue flower on his jacket. The woman standing next to him looked a lot like Lily. Same dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders in beautiful waves. Same face, eyes, and dove gray fur. She held a bouquet of dark blue flowers and had a gentle smile on her face.

The second picture was in color and a tad brighter, so Lily supposed that it had been taken a few years later. A little boy raccoon was holding a cane, similar to hers, smiled brightly back at her. His eye color matched hers, and he wore blue from his shirt to the boots on his feet.

Lily stared at the photos for a few minutes more. She then shook her head.

Carmelita reached back into the file and took out one more picture. Taking it from her, the brunette saw that it was a family portrait of the newlyweds and the little boy. The raccoon was being held in his father's arms, the cane being held at his side and much to big for him. But what caught Lily's attention was the tiny infant in the mother's arms. The baby had a full head of light brown hair on her head and huge caramel eyes.

Something stirred in the back of the raccoon's mind. She didn't know why, but she felt like she knew these people. She searched through what little memories she had to find an answer. Nothing.

Finally, Lily placed the photo on the desk with the others. "I'm sorry, Inspector. But I can't remember."

Though Carmelita look disappointed, she reassured the young girl that it was okay. Lily then left the office to go back to the Academy with Ms. King.

Carmelita sat in her office, looking again at the newly uncovered pictures. She then reached into her desk and pulled out another photo. A handsome, blue clothed adult raccoon smirked back at her.

_"I know that she's your sister, Sly,"_ the fox thought, _"and I know that you'll stop at nothing to find her."_

**~.~.~**

Meanwhile in America, a certain thief gang were planning their next heist. The Cooper Gang, to be more precise. It's leader, Sly, had just defeated the notorious gangster Mugshot, a tough as nails bulldog who had been running an empire of terror back in Mesa City. Now he was taking a small vacation with his two best friends and partners: Bentley the Turtle, and Murray the the Hippo. The gang was currently vacationing in Hollywood. Sly wanted to pull off a heist in the biggest museum in the city to gain some quick cash. Bentley and Murry were currently back at the safe house, formulating a plan. Sly had decided to explore Hollywood a little more before heading back. But, that wasn't the only thing on his mind.

About an hour ago, he had caught sight of a raccoon family enjoying themselves at a park. However, what really caught his attention was the couple's child. A little girl who looked like she was eight. Just looking at her made Sly think of Lily. His little sister who had been snatched away from him by the filthy hands of the Fiendish Five, the monsters who had murdered their parents. Ever since he, Bentley, and Murray had left the orphanage, Sly had been searching for Lily. Seeing the raccoon family had brought that dreadful night back to haunt Sly once more. Guilt and shame plagued his mind like a parasite, forever reminding him of another family member's possible death.

"Don't worry, we'll find her," Bentley had once promised him. But that was years ago. How did they know if Clockwerk hadn't left her to die ? How did they know if Lily was even still alive? And if she was, how long before she wasn't?

**Post Notes- **Okay, let me just say that I am totally in love with this fic right now! I've been wanting to write something like this for a long time. Now... if you want chapter two, make sure you review this. You give me reviews, I give you a new chapter. Deal? Good!


	2. Chapter 2:Past Remembrances

**Author's notes- C.V: *happily working at desk and humming***

**NH1220(nighthunter1220): *walks into workroom* What are you so happy about?**

**C.V:*in a singsong voice* I love this fic so much because it is so fun to write and Sly has such a sexy Japanese voice in the Tokyo Police File video.**

**NH1220: ... you know I'm right here...**

**C.V: NO ONE ASKED YOU CHEESY MONKEY! NOW GO BE A GOOD EDITING BITCH AND GET TO WORK!**

**NH1220: ...**

**C.V: *Notices audience* Oh, hi guys! Welcome to chapter two! The beginning flashback is brought to you by my boyfriend nighthunter1220. And even though I couldn't read all of his handwriting after he wrote it down, I managed to decipher it :D.**

**NH1220: HEY!**

**C.V: Oh, you know I love you!**

**I do not own Sly Cooper. I do however own Lily Cooper, Jade Lovett, and a whole bunch of other OCs that are probably going to pop up. SO TAKE THAT!**

**Chapter Two:**

**Past Remembrances**

_The night was thick with thunder and lightning. It felt as though the weather wished to wash the city of a certain pest that had plagued it for so long. However, that pest was rather well adapt at being kept well hidden._

_The feel of gold in the young child's hand was as though he were holding golden candy. He tried to roll in it, like in the cartoons, but his father always warned him of his friend's story: that he had stolen so much gold he filled a pool full of it. He jumped and broke his neck. Sly gripped his neck. Even the imaginative feeling that had been brought upon him made his neck hurt._

_He heard the door creak open behind him. He put down his gold and took his hand off of his throat to look behind him. In the doorway, he saw his father, standing proud and tall with light of the hallway shining upon his back. In his mouth was a corncob pipe with a fluid stream of smoke coming from it._

_His father took the pipe into his strong hands, blew out a small puff of smoke and said "Hey son, you ready?"_

_Sly felt his small heart start to beat out of his little chest. He had been waiting for this a long time, but now that it came, he was incredibly nervous. So many worries had burrowed into his young mind. Such as: "What if I break the binding?" "What if I spill something on it?" "What if I depend on it too much?" "What if I write something stupid and end up shaming the book?"_

_These questions beat his conscience to a pulp, and woke the boy up at night in cold sweats. Although his father had assured him that he would treat it with proper respect, Sly still couldn't shake his unending anxiety. His father even told him that it was natural to feel that way, as he did when he was a boy. He even said that if you looked at his section, you would see the stains from the drops of sweat that fell from his face as he put his thieving genius upon the humble parchment._

_Sly took the story into consideration and laughed a little, sneaking his heart throb for only a moment. But withing that moment, the bond that he had felt with his father felt stronger than ever. It felt as though with his father guiding him, he could break through any obstacle his mind would create, and he would do so with powerful force and pride._

_His father walked over to him and knelt down on one knee. He gently placed his thick hands on his son's tiny shoulders. Sly looked at him and saw his father's face gleam with a gentle smile. The face that usually showed sharp determination now wore a serene feeling of warmth._

_"Sly, I'm very proud of you. I believe that you will grow into a fine thief." he said with a voice like a hymn of a dove. He brought his small son to his chest for a hug. Sly hugged him back, a tranquil happy smile on his face._

_His father then lifted him up on his shoulders and brought him into the sitting room. As they came in, Sly saw his mother holding his sleeping sister in her lap while she knitted a small pink sweater for her with a gentle smile on her face._

_His father let him down on the big chair and said "I think it's time."_

_His father then walked over to the painting of a landscape that his friend McKinney sent to him when he was hiding in Alaska._

_As he lifted his arm to move the painting and get to the hidden safe behind it, the door gave a very large and thunderous knock. It felt like their whole house had been shaken._

_Sly's father immediately went pale, and his mother sat completely paralyzed while still holding a sleeping Lily._

**_"No..." _**_his father said in a frightened tone._

This memory had been going through Sly's mind as he had been fighting the Panda King: the man who Clockwerk had given the responsibility of taking Lily and their father away from him. Now, as the homicidal pyromaniac fell, the raccoon stood over him. Pointing the cane threateningly at the Panda King's face, Sly said in a low voice, "Now, you're going to tell me something: where the _hell _is Lily?"

His anger rose as the panda gave a sick laugh. "Ignorant child. I took your sister away thirteen years ago. Do you honestly think I would remember where I put her, not to mention tell you? If you want answers, you'll know where to find them." with that, his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he passed out.

Sly stood there frozen. He then threw his cane against one of the pillars of the gazebo, letting out an enraged yell. He fell to his knees, clutching his head. So close. He had been so close to learning her location. And once again it had slipped through his fingers.

Sly was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of Bentley's voice, coming in through his earpiece, "Sly, are you okay? Did you find it?"

The raccoon slowly got to his feet. He walked over to where his cane had landed. He picked it up, praying to his ancestors and parents for their forgiveness for treating the clan's heirloom with such disrespect.

"I got another page for the Thievius Raccoonus, but Panda King didn't have Lily's location."

"Well, there's a positive side in all of this," the turtle replied. "I have the place where the last page is located."

There was a small silence after he said this, it was if all of the clocks on the world and stooped, their gears frozen in place. Bentley realized the true gravity of the situation they now found themselves in, and asked in a tone that was a mixture of fright and sympathy,"That's where Clockwerk is, isn't it?"

The Panda King's words echoed in Sly's thoughts: _" If you want answers, you'll know where to find them."_

"Bentley, I think I've figured out how to find Lily."

**~.~.~**

Worthington Academy was a large, castle-like school that had been built back in the Victorian era. It not only gave orphaned girls a home, but it also taught them lessons on how to be proper young ladies in society. They started teaching girls from as young as five to the age of eighteen. Lily, however, was the only exception.

In the past, Lily had been a rather stubborn child. She had never been interested in learning proper tea edict or how to stay still and sit in one place. She would always be running around outside or running around in the school, climbing trees, playing with her cane, and running across the different levels of the school's rooftops.

She would also steal things. It started when she was about eight. It started out as small things like cookies, thimbles, and quill pens. However, as she got older, she was sent many places and adopted by many people, which prompted her moving onto to museums, banks, and millionaire's houses. There she would steal jewels, money, pieces of art, and some family heirlooms. Luckily, she was very good at not getting caught. Even though she enjoyed thieving, it also confused her quite a bit. Their teachers had told them at a very young age that stealing was wrong and they should never do it. if that were the case, then how was it that she was able to get such a thrill for it.

It was a beautiful day near the end of May. It was one of those days when it was warm, but not too humid. Ms. King thought it would be good for the girls to get some fresh air after their classes, instead of being kept cooped up in the stuffy school.

The air filled with shrieks of laughter as the youngest girls played down by the river near the school. They scooped up handfuls of water and kept dowsing each other with it.

The older girls were enjoying themselves in the school's garden. The oldest girls were sitting in chairs sewing and chatting while the others frolicked around in the garden, playing tag and hide and seek.

The only one not joining in on the fun was Lily. She was sitting in the shade against the largest tree in the garden. Her current outfit was a dark blue T-shirt and jean shorts that went down to her knees. Her signature blue hat was covering her eyes as the raccoon was napping after a long morning of classes. Her boots were on her feet and her arms were folded behind her head and being used as a pillow against the tree. Her brown hair was in a long ponytail that hung down her back. Her cane was leaning against the trunk. She took it everywhere out of classes. She couldn't explain why, but she always felt a connection to the cane, as if her soul was physically attached to it, and would perish without it.

The raccoon woke up when she heard someone calling her name. Though she was irritated at first, it slowly melted away when she saw the voice belonged to her best friend, Jade Lovett. Jade was a jaguar with a beautiful coat of golden fur and brown spots dappling it. She also had green eyes that seemed to turn extremely dark when she was angry, but then bright green when she was in a good mood. Creamy blonde hair fell down her back in beautiful curls. Today she was wearing a pink tank top and a black skirt and boots on her feet.

Jade had come to the orphanage when Lily was three. Her parents had died when their house had been set ablaze by a crazed arsonist. She had been the only survivor. Her first few days at the Academy had been hard. She was skittish and scared out of her mind from watching her parents burn to death in front of her. A curious Lily had been the only person who had taken the time to talk to her and coax her out of her shell. The two little girls became fast friends and were inseparable ever since.

It wasn't until a few years ago when Jade learned that Lily had a habit of stealing things. The jaguar had walked in on the raccoon in their bedroom trying to stuff a large bag of gold into her loot hiding place. After confronting her friend, Lily admitted that she had a habit of stealing things from time to time, but she never knew the reason why. Though Jade didn't like it at the time, she promised the raccoon that she wouldn't tell anyone. Their bond had become stronger since that day.

The blonde plopped herself beside Lily and lifted the hat slightly off her face so she could see her eyes.

"~Hello~, Earth to Cooper," she teased. "You shouldn't be sleeping. It's too nice out!"

Lily grumbled and shoved the hat back on her head, "I'm not asleep now, since you rudely woke me up!"

Jade, who was used to Lily's short temper just laughed at the response. "God, I'd really hate to see who you get that anger from."

(A.N: **C.V:** FORESHADOWING!)

"Well, I wouldn't know since I can't remember anything." the raccoon snapped back. This is why it never was a good idea to wake her up from sleeping.

Jade's playful smile quickly vanished and she looked at the ground in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I know you didn't," Lily reassured her, mentally kicking herself for yelling at her. "It's just that... I haven't been able to stop thinking about the interrogation yesterday."

"You never told me about this one." Out of everybody in the Academy, besides Ms. King of course, Jade was the only person who the raccoon told about these appointments because she was the only one who she could trust with these things.

Lily explained to Jade about the photos that Carmelita had found and how she had felt like she knew the people, even when she didn't have all her memories. She also told the jaguar how Carmelita was hinting that the brunette knew these people, but wouldn't tell her directly.

After the raccoon finished, Jade replied, "I know she has a stick up her ass, but she's probably right."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean in all the past interrogations, she asks you about your past, you don't remember, rinse lather repeat. Then boom! These pictures show up and they look strangely familiar. Maybe she's right. Maybe those people are your family."

Lily groaned and rested her head back against the tree. Trying to recover memories was making her head hurt.

"Well, we don't have to think about it now," Jade stood up and dragged the raccoon to her feet. "Come on, lazybones, let's go have fun!"

The girls spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in the woods in the back of the school. They climbed trees, chased each other through the bushes, and skipped rocks down by the river. It wasn't until they noticed how dark it was that they realized they should be heading home.

Lily went to follow Jade, but something stopped her. A noise that sounded like a hoot came from above her head. The raccoon's body went completely frozen. She slowly lifted her head. Two large, yellow, and unblinking eyes stared back at her from a tree branch.

Jade heard a terrified scream that come from behind her. The next thing she knew Lily was barreling into her. Tears were streaming from her eyes and she sounded like she was hyperventilating.

"Lily, what's wrong!" Jade asked in a concerned voice.

Through her sobs, the raccoon managed to get her words out. "A-an o-owl."

The jaguar immediately understood. She held her friend close to her. "Did it do anything to scare you?"

Lily shook her head. "N-no. I don't k-know why b-but whenever I s-see one it j-just scares t-the hell out of me!"

(A.N: **NH1220:** SYMBOLISM!)

Jade helped the raccoon to her feet and they headed back to the school. Once they were inside, Jade informed Bridget, the girls' house maid, that they were both skipping dinner because Lily didn't feel well. They then both headed up to the room that they shared.

When Jade closed the door and turned to her friend, Lily was sitting on their window seat. Her knees were pulled into her chest, and her forehead was resting on her knees. The blonde sat down next to her friend. "Lily, do you know if there's _any _reason why you're so afraid of owls?"

The raccoon lifted her head. Her eyes were slightly watery but she was trying hard not to cry. "I really don't know. Every time I see one, I suddenly smell blood in the air and I can't breath right. Like there's these claws that are crushing my ribs."

"Maybe it has something to do with your past. Maybe something happened to you and owls were involved."

Lily shrugged her shoulders.

There was a knock on the door. Bridget came in carrying a plate of turkey and mashed potatoes and a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

"I'm not letting you two go without dinner," she told them kindly. She handed the first plate to Jade and the bowl to Lily. "By the way, dear a letter just came for you. Something from Interpol I think."

Lily took the envelope from the house maid and waited until she left the room to open it. The first thing that she took out was a letter from Carmelita:

_Just found this picture a few days ago. Thought you'd want to have it._

_-Inspector Fox _

Lily cast the note aside and took out the picture. This photo was in color and looked surprisingly new. The same little boy raccoon from the pictures before was looking inside a baby crib through the bars; his eyes large and curious. Laying in the crib was the baby girl from the family portrait. She was staring at her brother with her big eyes and big toothless smile. A tiny hand was pressed against the bars like she was trying to touch him.

Suddenly, the raccoon's vision went black. Then a white light flashed across her vision.

~.~.~

_She was sitting in her crib, a small child, no older then a year. She watched with innocent eyes as her mother shoved her older brother of eight years old into the bedroom closet and closing the door. Outside the bedroom she could hear glass and other things being broken and overturned. Not to mention loud voices. Some were asking "Where is it!" The raccoon wondered if they were playing a game. _

_Her mother then knelt in front of the crib. The baby looked at her. Caramel eyes, long wavy brown hair, and dove soft fur. A face that had shown so much warmth and love now showed fear and worry. A sudden loud crash came from just outside the door. The little girl was frightened by the noise and started to whimper softly. _

_"**Shh, **you must be **very** quiet my little dove," her mother whispered in a comforting voice, trying at the same time to keep her voice steady. The baby clutched onto the shiny gold cane that her father had given her. Where was he? Was he playing the game too? _

_"Darling, Mommy loves you very much," her mother continued. "Daddy and Sly love you very much. Little dove be safe. Be strong." **(1)** _

_The raccoon looked at the closet. There was her brother, peering through the slightly opened door. Suddenly, the bedroom door burst open. Her head whipped around and saw what looked like a great steel owl standing there. A happy smile spread across the baby's face. She assumed that this owl was just her father in disguise. This was all part of the game. _

_Her mother sprang to her feet, protecting her daughter as the owl came closer. _

_"Move aside." the owl's voice had said with a metallic echo. _

_The brunette shook her head. _

_"I said, **move aside!"** _

_"Please, not her! **Anything** but her!" _

_"You are not a cooper by blood, but being related to one makes the task of cleaning the blood off of my talons that much more worth it." _

_Her mother didn't budge._

_"So be it."_

_ A clawed hand was raised. A flash of blood. The sickening thud of the raccoon's body hitting the floor, her throat torn out and her bright eyes now dim. _

_The steel owl approached the crib. By this time, the little girl realized that this strange owl was not her father. She started crying, wanting her mother to get back up and scare off this scary thing. She wanted this horrible creature of the night to go away and never come back. _

_"That noise annoys me. Your mother was an annoyance, look where she is now. On the floor swimming in a pool of her own filthy blood." the owl said as his the cold metal gripped around the tiny baby's leg and held her upside down like an animal ready for slaughter. _

_He raised his already blood drenched claw high up as though he sought to claw out the sky, and was about to drive it with all he had , when he stopped. The baby felt all the blood rush to her head, so her vision was hazy, but she could see its shining souless eyes be drawn to the closet in the living room. The owl then lowered its claw back underneath its wing._

_"Never forget child, the moon will be eclipsed by the wings of your death." _

_All of a sudden, the owls view was blocked by a large panda standing in the doorway, burns on his arms and blood across his chest. _

_"Did you find it?" _

_"Yes, sir. The Connor Cooper book is ours." **(2)** _

_Clockwerk nodded his head. He then walked over to the doorway, baby still on claw and placed placed her in the panda's arms. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as the scent of blood washed over her. _

_"Take this, I want you to put her in a desolate city." the owl said. He then moved past the panda and continued to the front door. _

_"Sir? Pardon me, but why aren't you going to kill her?" Panda King asked confused. _

_Clockwerk's head turned back to Sly, still hiding in the closet. _

_"I want to see her blood on my claws another day, and from that, the rat will grovel as I watch." _

_Silence filled the roof briefly. Then, the panda bowed his head. _

_"As you wish." _

_ Clockwerk then walked out of the room and left the house. Panda King reached into the crib and took out the cane before handing it to the baby. He then started heading out of the room. The little girl's head turned to look at her brother one last time. His mouth then opened. _

_**"LILY!"** _

_~.~.~_

"Lily? Are you okay?"

The raccoon had been staring at the picture for over a minute now. Jade had begun to worry when she noticed her face going pale. The jaguar's eyes went wide as the brunette's body went still and she fell sideways and onto the floor.

_"LILY!"_ Jade yelled.

_Then, everything went black._

**Post notes- ****(1) Yes, I do realize that this line is similar to the words that Lily Potter says to Harry before she dies in "The Deathly Hallows", but it was the only thing I could think of.**

**(2) Okay, Connor probably isn't the name of Sly's dad. But apparently it's a very popular fan name, so I decided to use that.**

Hooray! Angsty flashbacks! Sorry if it got a little too dark for some people. Anyway, make sure you review!


	3. Chapter 3:Shared Scars

**Author's notes- C.V: *Busts down wall of work room carrying iHome playing "Part of Me."* ~THIS IS THE PART OF ME THAT YOU'RE NEVER GONNA EVER TAKE AWAY FROM ME!~**

**NH1220: Why didn't you just use the door?**

**C.V: Breaking the door is no fun.**

**Roy Mustang: *busts down door while drunk* WHERE'S MY WALLET!**

**C.V *fangirl squeal* OH MY GOD! *grows cat ears and a tail and levitates over and hugs him***

**NH1220: Why the hell am I even here?**

**I do not own Sly Cooper. I do own Lily Cooper, though. HAHA, BITCHES!**

**Warning: Strong language in this chapter :P**

**Chapter Three: **

**Shared Scars **

Early morning sunshine shone through the window panes of the medical ward, each having a ray shine through, giving the smallest fraction of life to the cold and dead stone the ward was structured by. The only room that was in use was being occupied by Lily and Jade. The raccoon had been unconscious since she had passed out the night before. Jade's scream had alerted Bridget, who happened to be on their floor. The maid had moved Lily to the medical ward where she was being kept under the watchful eyes of the nurses. Jade hadn't left her friend's side since, feeling a sort of connection, like a physical chain binding her to her only friend.

At the moment, the raccoon was laying in bed, completely unattached to the physical world . She was still for the most part, but every so often her hands would twitch and she'd mumble something inaudible, like she was having a horrible nightmare. Jade was sitting quietly in a chair by her bedside, keeping her hand clutched tightly in her paw. Her eyes were red and eye sockets were shadowed from her lack of sleep and her hair was a tangled mess for not brushing it that morning. Part of her brain was telling her to go to sleep, but her body refused to listen.

The cold splash of metallic loneliness began to invade the jaguar's fragile mind once again. She knew that pushing it to the back of her mind wouldn't do any good except delay the inevitable. The state of complete isolation was coming. In an attempt to save from this, she needed to go back. Go back to when she was given a sort of salvation. She needed to escape into a memory.

**~.~.~**

_Lily was probably the closest that Jade would ever have to a family. The blonde saw the raccoon as a sister, ever since they had become friends ten years ago. Back then, Jade had witnessed the horrific experience of seeing the flesh being seared from her parent's bones from a roaring hellfire while she could only watch in paralyzing fear, not even moving from the fire spreading on her arms. Nobody had payed attention to her for her first days at the orphanage. The older girls had completely ignored her and the girls her age were scared of the burns and scars she had received. Jade had isolated herself from everybody, usually running off to the woods to be by herself. It seemed that the deepest scar was within her soul._

_Then, the day came. Jade had been sitting by the river in the woods, soaking her scared paws in the coolness. The little jaguar had jumped when she heard a loud thud come from the side of the dock._

_She looked to her side to see a small raccoon, around the age of three, sitting on the edge of the dock with her arms crossed and her eyes filled with anger. She looked at this girl, who looked completely unaware that she was even there._

_She moved over to get a better look. The raccoon's eyes moved and met her gaze, and then quickly looked back over at the river in front of her, as if she saw nothing at all._

_"Aren't you freaked out at all?"_

_"Why should I?"_

_Taking a deep breath, Jade lifted her paws from her lap and showed the brunette her scared arms and paws. Lily stared at them for only a few seconds before shaking her head._

_"Well you should be!" the jaguar growled. She placed her paws back in her lap, but didn't hide them this time._

_They were silent for a few minutes before Jade had asked "What are you mad about?"_

_Her eyes met Jade's once more. Jade saw a deep fire in them as she responded "Because they found me and brought me to this hellhole." _

_Jade was surprised, no one that age had the guts to say the word "**hell**". Jade had never seen a girl like this before, so full of hatred and anger, it reminded Jade of the darker part of her soul._

_"Pardon my french, but what the **fuck** does it mean to you."_

_Jade jumped back a little bit. Who was this little girl? It was amazing enough that she said "**hell**", but saying the F-word was nothing short of astonishing. The only reason she knew it existed was when one of the older orphans said it. It was hard to imagine that a girl that young could become so cold to everything around her._

_The raccoon's gaze simmered a little and it looked as though some of the fire within her eyes had died. She asked softly "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get mad. Why are you sitting here and looking as sad as you do?"_

_"My father was the boss of this famous business company," she explained. "He fired one of his workers because he wouldn't stop sexually harassing the women. The guy was angry so he set our house on fire. My parents burned to death while I got away with some burns and scars. Everyone sees them, and they're all scared. No one sees me, all they see are scars."_

_Lily listened with wide eyes. Jade waited for her to get up and walk away, or even say that it was her fault for their deaths._

_"I'm so sorry."_

_The blonde's stunned gaze rested on the raccoon. What was with this strange girl? She wasn't scared of Jade's scars, past, or even the fact that she was a jaguar, which meant she could probably kill her with one swipe of her claws. All she wanted to do was be her friend..._

_"Well what about you? What happened to your parents?"_

_Lily stood back up while grabbing a few flat stones in the process. She set the cane that she had been carrying earlier down, and skipped a rock down the river before answering "I don't know. I can't remember."_

_"Huh?"_

_"Ms. King said that I was only a baby when I came here. Nobody was around so she assumed that they had died, and someone put me on the front step of the Academy." She sounded very nonchalant as she was speaking._

_"Don't you ever wish that you could remember?" Jade asked._

_The brunette was quiet for a moment while rocking on the balls of her feet and hands clasped behind her back. "Sometimes. But if I dwell on the past, how can I live for today," She then turned her head to the still sitting jaguar. "My name is Lillian, by the way. Lillian Cooper. But everyone calls me Lily."_

_Jade smiled for the first time since the fire. "Jade Lovett."_

_Lily moved over next to her. She held her hand and said "Jade, **I** don't see scars."_

_Jade knew that the fire that still haunted her had met with the icy chill of Lily. Alone they would only bring about pain and dread, but together, they would be able soothe the other and create a perfect equilibrium. Jade hoped that it would stay that way forever. Unfortunately, she would soon realize that nothing lasts forever. No matter what, everything dies._

**~.~.~**

They had become inseparable after that day. New fur had grown over Jade's scars leaving her with a beautiful new coat and a complete shift in personality, like continents shifting and creating new land, where light and happiness shall cover what was once plagued by dark loneliness. Now thinking back to that day, she realized how far she had come because of the raccoon, and how the loneliness returned once she was gone.

The first time Lily had gotten adopted was two years later when the girls were five. Both of them had cried that day, not wanting to leave each other. The day after she left, Jade had built another box of isolation for herself. She felt empty without the one person in the world she could call "friend." Fortunately for her, Lily returned back to the orphanage a few days later. The girls celebrated, although she did not know why, Jade never worried about it and only focused on breaking through her own cage of despair. As the years past, Lily would be adopted, only to be back a few days later. The raccoon would tell Jade that her new family was always met with an empty bedroom the next morning. Lily hated every new family that she went with, her reason being that she felt like the cog that wouldn't mesh. After the fourth time of being sent back, nobody had even tried to adopted her.

Jade was brought out of her thoughts when she heard a groan. A wave of relief washed over her when she saw Lily was finally coming to.

"Jade?" The raccoon's voice sounded weak.

"I'm here. Are you okay?" the jaguar loosened her grip on the brunette's hand but she held onto it like they were hanging from a ledge.

"I don't know," came Lily's response as she sat up. She hissed as pain shot through the back of her head. "Shit, did I hit my head?"

"You fell off the window seat when you blacked out. You hit your head pretty hard," Jade explained while she adjusted her pillows higher so she could rest her head. "What happened? Did you see something?"

Lily then explained what she had seen in her flashback. When she was finished, Jade was quiet. "Do you think it was a memory coming back to you?"

"I don't know, it was all happening so fast," the raccoon muttered. She hugged her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. Her tired eyes drifted to all parts of the room as she felt herself fully return to the world of the conscience.

"It must be! Why else would it come back when you looked at that picture?" the blonde questioned. Lily could only shrug.

A knock on the door caused both girls to jump. One of the nurses had stepped into the room.

"Oh good, you're finally awake," she said with the same relief that Jade had shown. She then turned to the jaguar. "Jade, you should go back and rest. You've been up all night."

The blonde shared a reluctant look with her roommate.

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of Lily."

The raccoon nodded her head, silently reassuring her that she was fine. Jade let go of the brunette's hand and left the room.

The nurse took care of every detail, making sure she would be alright, but it felt like whenever someone got close to her, there was an aura of depression and dread that would seep over you. She left shortly afterwards.

When she was sure the coast was clear, Lily sat up and dug around under her pillow. She took out the picture and looked at it. The only thing that she knew was that the little boy's name was Sly, and he was apparently her older brother. Another thing was that it looked like they had both had been gifted with similar canes. But, what did it mean?

When she had been unconscious, strange visions had been flashing through her mind, but they were only flashes. The most common one was of a male raccoon who looked like he was in his mid twenties. His clothing was a dark blue hat, shirt, gloves, and boots all similar to hers. His belt around his waist had what looked like a raccoon shaped insignia. He held in his paw a cane similar to hers, not to mention they had the same eyes. In most of the visions he was running along rooftops, moving so fast and silently it was as though he was gliding on the cool night air. After that he was jumping in the back of a strange van, and even taking down armed enemies one by one. There was a flash when this man was with two others, one being a meek turtle wearing glasses and the other being a large, muscular hippo.

A sudden thought came to the brunette. She had to find out who this raccoon was, and as if it were instinctual, she knew how to do it.

Slowly sitting up again, Lily placed her bare feet on the hardwood floor. A groan escaped her when her vision swam slightly as she stood up. After the spell passed, she grabbed her cane and hat and jammed it on her head before moving over to the door. Seeing that the nurse left it slightly ajar, she looked through the crack and scanned the hallway. Even though she was the only one who was currently being treated in the medical ward, the hallway seemed to be swarming with nurses.

Closing the door, Lily rested her back against it. "_How the hell am I going to get out now?" _

Her eyes wandered over to the window in front of her. A smirk spread across her face. Unhooking the latch, the raccoon poked her head out. Luckily, the windows along the outer wall of the ward had balconies, one right after the other, leading to a pipe that led downwards to another open window.

Climbing onto the windowsill, Lily quickly used the balconies to reach the rusted pipe. She placed her cane in her mouth and scaled down the pipe before jumping off and slipping through the window.

The room was dark, but was slowly getting lighter thanks to the sunrise. She could see what little sunrise there was shining dimly on the dust that rested on old textbooks. Lily knew that the feeling of apathy she had felt when coming in made sense now, she was in the library. Lily was cautious as she made her way to the computers despite the fact that she knew that no one would be occupying the library for hours, but she didn't like taking chances. Sitting down, the brunette brought up a search engine and typed in her supposed older brother's name. She was shocked when a ton of links to Interpol's case studies came up. Looking through only one gave Lily all the info she needed.

"A thief?" she asked herself softly. Scrolling down she saw more articles that explained robberies, big-time heists, and a high priced bounty on the older raccoon's head along with his accomplices. While a lot of this seemed to feel right, there was one thing that angered the raccoon. It was that these articles made the "Cooper Gang" look to be big time criminals. But there wasn't a single scrap of evidence on any link that said that they had committed murder.

Lily thought back to what she read about thieving gangs in the newspapers. Those were cold blooded killers who killed anyone for their loot. And it wasn't just millionaires or people with worldly power that were targeted by these mad dogs, but every single person down to the poorest beggar who at least a single gold coin had their throats slit. Whoever this raccoon was, his gang was different.

The raccoon was about to exit out of the page when a certain link caught her eye: _Past of Sly Cooper. _Reading through the file confirmed her suspicions. If what this file said was true, the older raccoon's past was exactly the same as how the events in Lily's flashback played out.

The brunette rested her elbows on the desk and pressed her thumbs to her forehead. Closing her eyes, she did a follow up of the information she had so far. Many of these files were fairly recent, which meant that Sly was still out there. If she wanted to find out where she came from, she needed to find him.

But, what about her life here at the orphanage? Ms. King had done so much for her from such a young age, and she was forever grateful for that. What about Jade? The jaguar would be devastated if she woke up the next morning and found her friend missing. However, she didn't know if she would ever get another opportunity like this.

Lily's eyes slowly opened, her brown irises hardening as her brow furrowed deeply. Knowing what she had to do, Lily made her way back to the medical ward. The nurses announced they were keeping her there for another night, just to make sure she wasn't going to give anyone more heart attacks with her passing out. This gave the raccoon plenty of time to think of her plan of escape.

**~.~.~**

As night fell once again, the young raccoon waited until she was sure the nurses had retired for the evening. She quickly slipped out of bed and took once again the route out the window. Lily climbed pipes and snuck along ledges until she finally made it to her and Jade's bedroom. Opening the window as quietly as she could, the brunette took in the sight of Jade's sleeping form. Judging from the jaguar's deep breathing, Lily snuck over to her closet on her side of the room. Opening a duffel bag she threw a few pairs of clothes in before lifting one of the floorboards that led to her loot hiding place. Knowing that she couldn't take all of it, the raccoon took about 1,000 dollars from her money before throwing that in the bag too.

Finally, she pulled on her signature outfit she wore while she was thieving: blue shirt, boots, gloves, pants, and hat. She also pulled out the leather jacket Jade had given her for her thirteenth birthday before putting it over her shirt. As one last precaution, she put her hair up in a ponytail and hid it under her hat. Slinging the bag over her shoulder and grabbing her cane, Lily took one last glance around the moonlit room, making sure she wasn't forgetting anything. Her eyes then wandered back to Jade. The blonde hadn't moved since the raccoon had entered the room. Guilt began gnawing at her insides, but she pushed it away, as it would only serve to slow her down.

She opened their door and snuck out into the hallway. Walking down the grand staircase was a little more difficult since everything was freaking old, which meant everything squeaked when even the slightest bit of pressure was put onto it. She moved down slowly and evenly, like she was walking on ice that was no more than an inch thick. She had just made it to the door and was about to open it, when a familiar voice made her jump. "Nice night for an escape, isn't it?"

Jade was standing behind Lily holding a lit candle. She was wearing red pajama pants along with a grey band T-shirt, with her blonde hair tumbling past her shoulders. She wore a look that was both angry, but held hints of understanding traced within her face as well.

Of course Lily took the natural reaction to lying to her friend into consideration, but knew that she owed her telling the truth. Jade had always been able to see through the raccoon's lies, on those rare occasions when she _did_ try to lie to her friend. Giving a soft sigh, the brunette looked Jade dead in the eye, and said, "If I'm going to find out where I came from and who my family was, I can't stay and sit here in my own ignorance. I have to find my brother."

Her eyes quickly darted toward the floor and waited. She waited for the yelling, to be told that she was an idiot to even think that she could just leave the Academy without a trace, that even the thought of finding the only family she had left halfway across the world was the most laughable thing ever created. But the scoldings and criticisms didn't come. Lily lifted her head and was shocked at Jade's expression: it was that of understanding.

"Lillian Joy Cooper, you and I have known each other since we were three, do you not think that I can read you like an open book?" Lily's ears flattened against her head and her tail twitched in annoyance at the comment, but there was humor in the jaguar's tone. Her next sentence, however, was deadly serious, "After our discussion in the medical ward, I had a feeling that you were going to try and find out more about the little boy in your flashback. So a few minutes after I left I went back into your room. Seeing that the window was open I looked out and saw you slip into the library. After you left, I saw that you went into Interpol's case studies. I then figured that you were planning to run away tonight."

The raccoon listened to her friend talk, her eyes growing exponentially wider by the minute. She knew that she was predictable by Jade's standards, but she didn't think she was _this _predictable.

"How did you-" Lily started but Jade interrupted her.

"After all the times you've snuck out to steal things, I've gotten pretty good at making myself look like I'm asleep."

The parasitic worm of guilt stated gnawing at her yet again. "Jade, I'm so sorry. I really don't want to leave... but I _have _to do this. If I don't, I may spend the rest of my life never knowing who I am."

The blonde nodded. She then surprised Lily by throwing herself at the brunette and wrapping her in a hug. "I know,"she said with a shaking voice, like she would start crying any minute. "I understand that you need to find him. I'm... I'm just going to _miss_ you."

The raccoon's eyes started filling up, but she held back her tears. She wrapped her arms around her friend's waist and returned the hug. She didn't cry. She _couldn't. _She had to be strong for the both of them.

After a few minutes, the jaguar stepped back. Lily could see tears beginning to form at the corners of her emerald eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. Jade then reached into the pocket of her pajama pants and took out what looked like a silver pocket watch. She held it out to the raccoon and said "Here, take this. I was going to give this to you for your next birthday, but it's probably better to give it to you now."

Taking the watch from the blonde's outstretched paw, she held it up to the candle light. On the front side of the watch her name had been engraved into the metal: _Lily Cooper. _Flipping it over, the raccoon saw that Jade had also engraved a quote: _Best Friends, Forever and Always._

Lily turned back to the jaguar. "Jade... this is beautiful. Thank you so much," She now felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest, but she swallowed past the lump in her throat and continued. "I'm going to miss you so much. More than you know."

Jade nodded, a sad smile on her face. "Where will you go first?"

"Honestly, no freaking idea."

The blonde chuckled and took the brunette's paw in hers. "I won't tell anyone, Lily. You have my word."

"Thank you."

The two girls then made their way outside. Jade said that if the raccoon wanted to get to the edge of town without being seen, she should go through the woods. The two friends embraced once more.

As Lily was walking away, she turned her head to see her friend one last time. Jade smiled and said "Lily, when you find out who you are, always remember, no matter who you are, you're my friend."

Lily smiled back and turned her head back toward the dark forest. Jade watched her go. After about a moment, she had disappeared into the dense collection of trees, going once more with the wind of the night.

**~.~.~**

Sly stood on the small metal bridge that was left of Clockwerk's death ray. Down below the great and malevolent owl lay dead in the molten lava, his parts scattered all over the place. Pieces of shark and ghoulish metal lay drifting in the molten lava, still intimidating despite their separation.

The raccoon stared down at the folded parchment in his hand. He had snatched the very last page of the Thievius Raccoonus from the owl's claw just before it went down into the fiery rock where it belonged. The bane of the Cooper family's existence was finally gone. Or so he thought.

When Clockwerk had fallen into the lava for the last time, his soul had not yet left his body, although he was very near death. The dying bird had then gone on a number of insane ramblings due to the extensive damage that was done. One thing that he had said however, was very clear. He said that Sly would never be rid of him, that he would always be there, watching in the darkness and always ready to strike. Besides for that, there was something else he said, as the lava spilled into his body, it was "You can never hide from me. You will live in fear that I live within your shadow and so will the other...cooper...rat"

Sly couldn't believe this. The only other person he could be talking about was Lily. But she was dead. Clockwerk had killed her! But, apparently she was still alive, but how?

However, what disturbed him the most was the reason that Clockwerk hadn't killed his sister. How could a being that possessed such immeasurable hate and jealousy grant any kind of mercy, and to a Cooper no less.

With Clockwerk drowning in the smoldering hell of the volcano, Sly knew he didn't have much time. "There's one last thing I don't understand, why did you let Lily live?"

The owl let out a sick, twisted laugh from damaged mechanical lungs, which had sounded like steel scraping together. His remaining eye met Sly's as he said "I enjoyed watching you fall into anguish as you not only failed to save your parents, but also that you couldn't even save your sibling. The thoughts that would go through your mind, the guilt of surviving and living as a failure. You would only be a husk, containing nothing inside of yourself but your own. As each day passed, the flame of will i see within everyone of you would slowly die out, until eventually, it would perish. And then, when your spirit was completely broken, and you wished nothing more but to feel death's scythe upon your neck, you would see the flash of my talons, and your failure would have been complete. But now, it seemed the powers that be brought you to me, so I resolved to end it here. But it never will end Cooper, I'll always be there."

With that, the light in the owl's eye had shut down, it seemed as though he was finally dead.

Forcing himself out of his thoughts, Sly slowly opened the parchment. His eyes darted down when he heard something fall and collide with the bridge. Bending down, the raccoon picked up what looked like a tracking device. Right in the center of the screen was a glowing read raccoon insignia. Seeing what name labeled it almost made his heart stop: Lily Cooper

**Post notes- HOLY CRAP! FINALLY THIS CHAPTER IS DONE! Sorry for making you guys wait so long. I started writing this a few weeks ago, but then I thought it sounded terrible so I went into such a bad writer's block. Fortunately, thanks to Nighthunter, he was able to help me out with it. THANK YOOUUU!**

**Anywho, make sure you review! Chapter Four hopefully will come out earlier than this did.**


	4. Chapter 4:Two Years Later

**Author notes- C.V: OKAY! I finally finished chapter three! Now onto this chapter!**

**NH1220: Which is probably going to take twice as long.**

**CV: *hits him over the head with frying pan* Shut up!**

**I don't own Sly Cooper. Lily Cooper and the rest of the OCs I have made up, however, will always belong to me :P**

**Btw, to anyone who doesn't know, I changed Lily's age in the first chapter. So up to chapter three she's thirteen. And in this chapter she's fifteen.**

** This chapter is brought to you by Nighthunter1220.**

**If you see E.N anywhere in this chapter, it stands for Editor's note.**

**Chapter Four:**

**Two Years Later**

**Cairo, Egypt. The Museum of Natural History**

The sounds of flashes on cameras littered the air along with shoes sliding across polished marble floors. The clicking of tongues speaking Domari filled the ear like gnats. Lily could only understand a slight amount of it, but not enough to make out entire conversations, but they may have been due to the hustle and bustle of the Twelve 'o clock crowd. It didn't really matter to her, as she had put the task of learning languages near the bottom of her list. In hindsight, that was a very bad move, as it would help to understand the people around her, and read the signs saying what was what. Her own folly aside, Lily tried to push herself through the many families as politely as possible, but being polite for her was like an elephant working for a monkey on island, it simply was impossible.

**(E.N: You see what I did there :D)**

Luckily for her, there was a few American tourists nearby, that much she could pick up. She moved slowly in their direction, giving the false action of looking at the Karson Gang exhibit that was next to her. She had gotten within forty meters, or what she _assumed _was forty meters. She adjusted her hoody so she could see the family out of the corner of her eye. The now fifteen year old raccoon was wearing a dark blue hoody that she had cut the sleeves off of, black jean shorts that went down to her knees, combat boots, and a pale blue cami. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. The pocket watch Jade had given her was currently attached to one of her belt loops. Her cane, oddly enough, was back with the rest of her things at the motel she was currently staying at.

Anyway, the father was trying to make sense of the map and fumbling with a "English to Domari" dictionary, while the mother was trying to find a signal for her phone, sticking her arm in the air with her phone, like she was holding a match for a concert. While she was doing this, her son was pulling at her dress, begging for another granola bar that she had kept tucked into her purse and she would give like a treat to a house pet. They were large black bears, feeling as compact as blocks in tetris.

"Hmm let me see here, Government History-Floor G Section K, Prehistoric History-Floor B Section F, ah here it is Criminal History-Level A Section C..."

Lily laughed to herself as she realized that he was in the wing he was looking for all along. The ineptitude of the father only momentarily distracted her as in the next moment she saw they were moving toward the end of the hall. She could only pray they were one of the many that wanted to see the new "Clockwerk Parts".

Lily had heard the parts were that of "one of the greatest criminal geniuses to ever live." She had heard that many thieves would come indiscriminately to rejoice at the death of the once immortal executioner of the sky.

The brunette had figured that if all thieves of the world had come, then it was a pretty safe bet that Sly would try to come and check it out for himself. She had no idea the connection that the metal bird had to her brother, or what the creature meant to her, yet.

She followed them well into the deepest part of the Criminal History wing until they blended into a very large crowd. it was as though they were all branches of small rivers coming together to create a large stream of awe and astonishment.

Lily shoved her way through the large tourists, feeling like she was trapped in a large pool of liquid concrete. She felt herself almost suffocate in between two walruses. _This better be worth it _she thought to herself.

When she had finally gotten to the head of the crowd, she was blinded by the sun being reflected off of something chrome, She adjusted her eyes, but what she saw made her wish that she had been blind. She was face to face with a large metal owl, its red eyes shooting blood soaked daggers through her and its large beak open, ready to use its monstrous wings to swoop at her ad rip her entrails from her body.

"_Never forget child, the moon will be eclipsed by the wings of your death.__"_

It was the day _he_ would return. The day he would end her life. She thought him only to be a nightmare, a passing dream, but he was real. He was metal flesh and oiled blood.

Lily felt her eyes flash and then dim. She felt her body become full of weights, dragging her down to the bottomless abyss. There was no escape. No escape from the lurker of shadows, the night glider, the lord of shadows. it was death itself, manifested into cold unfeeling machinery.

"Oh my god someone help her!"

The voice was right next to her, yet it felt as though it was miles away. She felt a soft net grace her back as gravity pulled it's strings. There was only blackness and noise. It felt like another eclipse of the mind would come again, but this time, she pushed herself through, and broke through to the light.

Her eyes opened and saw many tourists on either side holding her with worried faces. Many crowded around, many asking if she was alright, followed by multiple "I don't knows."

She was awake once more. She felt she should feel a small sense of pride, having beaten the chains of fear that took her from the land of living two years ago, but she only felt emptiness. Emptiness of knowledge by not having her hidden memories revitalized with the mere mention of the name "Clockwerk" and become prepared for coming face to face with it. She knew deep inside however, that no amount of preparation could help here in the reunion of her and the deathly owl.

She thanked the people who kept her from falling to the floor and began walking around the owl. With every step, she found another piece of metal that made her blood run ice cold. Each metallic feather, while centuries old, remained sharp to the finest point possible. There was no scratch, no sign of wear, or even age. It seemed as though this metallic reaper of life was void of the laws of time. It was as though it's hatred, such pure and unending hatred, had made it able to break away from the time stream into a deity of sorts.

Lily needed to know more about this. She had a gut feeling before she came to be able to closely look at artifacts no one else could. She had dubbed it part of her innate "thief intuition". While she was in China, she was able to procure a very well created fake identity. She was going by the name "Rose Cain." It had been created for her by her friend she called only "C". C was able to create an entire history for her and was able to slip her profile into the staff list of the Los Angeles Criminal Investigation Department as analyst. C didn't ask for much compensation, all she asked was that Lily was to pick up some books that were said to contain "_yaoi_", whatever that was.

(** E.N: ****This is to Carmen Veiga from Nighthunter1220 ha ha**)

Lily saw a chance for her newly acquired pseudonym to be of considerable use. She moved past the many tourists, eventually getting soda on her black shorts and gum on her new boots. She moved past the minor annoyances and eventually reached the guard that was overlooking everything. She was a large grey hippo. She had her arms folded and wore an expression that just shouted "Don't fuck with me and I won't fuck with you." Lily came up to her and asked in Domari if she spoke English. Lily knew very little of the language but knew that phrase in foreign languages like she knew her own name.

The hippo didn't seemed to pleased to be spoken to, or even acknowledged. Her eyes only moved and met Lily's and she slowly nodded. Lily saw in her eyes years of exhaustion and bitterness.

"I was wondering if i could examine those parts, if at all possible. I'm part of the Los Angeles Crimina-"

Before she could finish her fabricated story, the large hippo interrupted her and said with wide eyes and a waging finger "Little girl I know you ain't part of no 'criminal investigation' group, you're five for god's sake. Now go find your mother and stop lyin' to adults."

Every single cell of that she had wanted to launch out and kick the hippo square in the jaw, but she knew that doing anything of the sort would only serve to land her right in jail. She made a polite smile and nod, turned and walked away. She clenched her paw so tightly she almost felt blood drip from her palm.

She blended back into the crowd and managed to move with the river of tourists until she came upon a door that said "Employees Only." She moved in very very quickly and not drawing any attention. She saw before her a large white hallway with doors lining each of the walls. She checked inside each of them until she came upon what appeared to be the security control room.

She slowly opened the door to see four wolves paying close attention to everything that was going on on the security cameras. Seeing them brought a frown to Lily's face. She remembered Jade, again. In the two years since she had seen here, there hadn't been a day that went by where Jade hadn't flashed through her mind. She sighed softly and allowed herself to regain focus.

She balanced herself on the balls of her feet and slowly moved forward. The end of the room was curved and the security feeds and security controls were attached, leaving the wolves in a position that gave them very little peripheral vision.

She slowly creeped forward and was able to see that the wolf in the center and at the end of the room had blueprints next to his controls. Lily knew if she was going to be able to see the parts, she was going to have to "borrow" them. She needed to get the blueprints of the facility to see where she could enter and where she could exit with the parts. Furthermore, without knowing the over-night security measures, she was sure to be found as a burnt carcass by the guards the following morning.

Sweat started to go down her face as she she crept and had to watch her step, because while the floor may be metallic and not liable to creaking, the only light in the room was the illumination from the security camera's, not giving the best light to see what's around her. If she were to slip on a stray pen, then with the vibration of sound could cause the end of two years of training to be a thief.

Every step was taken slowly, never rushing forward, but always making sure that when her foot met the ground, there would be nothing in the way that would impede her footing. It was only when she had gotten to the inner circle of wolves she got onto her knees, and as she pressed on further, she would lay on her stomach and move like a snake to her treasure of blue paper.

She felt sweat drip at an increasing rate, almost to the point where lily feared if she was not seen, the trail on the floor would alert the guards that someone was in there without their knowledge. Now her paranoia surfaced along with her sweat, as wolves had incredibly good noses. While her training had made her able to mask her scent, the overwhelming perspiration would undo any rouse of scent. Lily slowly breathed in and out several deep breaths, which had allowed her to regain control of her fear.

She continued her crawl on the ice cold metal. The amount of time this was taking was taking it's toll on Lily. The brunette had been notoriously impatient at the orphanage, and while she was able to move past it in her training, it still remained etched into the corner of her mind, similar to a tick, incredibly hard to get rid of, and constantly draining. Lily knew if she were hasten herself, then the last thing she could feel would be the cold blood spreading over her body as she felt each limb become grasped in sharp fangs and eventually detached from her, leaving a large pool of her own failure. She had been taught that each drop of your blood that is spilt by your enemy is the proof of true incompetence.

She was now right behind the center wolf, with sharp and piercing eyes darting across the security cameras like an emotionless machine, and slowly brought her hand up. She moved it slowly upward, a snake ready to take it's prey from it's mother without drawing the slightest attention. Her hand started to shake. She brought all of the will within herself to keep her paw as steady as possible, even to the point where she imagined it on an invisible rail, moving to it's routine objective. with every inch, she felt the rail break away, metal rusting by the aging process of anxiety.

Almost as if it never happened at all, Lily had taken the blue parchment. Even though it was mere ink on paper, in that moment, it meant more than anything else in the world and filled her body with a lightness and feeling of accomplishment. As it hurt her to do so, she buried that sense of pride with focus, and began to move backward to the door she came in as fast as possible, so that she would be long gone by the time they had realized what happened. She moved in reverse, her exact same pattern of crawling except in rewind. She opened the door silently once more and slipped away, an unheard whisper within the deafness of the dark.

She moved quickly down the white hall again, opened the door back to the exhibit, and once more became one with the river of tourists. She looked back only once, and smirked as there was no enraged wolf following the set of the prints or even her. This had gone better than originally expected she had thought. She had planned many quick escape roots and paths along the city to take, but the knowledge that those plans were almost useless brought the feeling of accomplishment to an even greater height.

As she left the exhibit, her eyes met once more with the cold harbinger of death she thought to be only a nightmare. She knew the next time she saw him, they would be alone and she would finally be dominant over the dark specter that had haunted her nights so many times before. Now, she would be the superior.

**Post notes- C.V: How'd you like it? I didn't know if I wanted to add in the heist in this chapter, but I decided that's going to be in Chapter Five. Make sure u say good job to Nighthunter1220 in the reviews, he's the one who wrote this chapter.**

**NH1220: Hey audience, anyone have an idea who "C" is supposed to be? *looks at C.V who has now grown cat ears and a tail and wearing a devil smile***

**C.V: YAOI YAOI YAOI!**

**NH1220: ... Anyway, thanks for reading and make sure you review!**


	5. Chapter 5:The Cycle Begins Again

**Author's notes- C.V: ~Hey~ Sorry that we kind of gave the impression that Sly and Lily were going to FINALLY meet in the last chapter. But while Nighthunter was writing the chapter I was trying to decide if I actually wanted to fit the entire Clockwerk Parts heist into the chapter and then make it be a cliffhanger with them coming face to face for the first time. But then I decided against it. I'm really sorry! Leave throwing objects at me until the end of the chapter or put it in your review lol. Also, thanks to me, Nighthunter has turned into a major Clockwerk fanboy just from editing this story alone and writing the last chapter.  
**

**NH1220: Clockwerk is AWESOME!  
**

**C.V: Annnyway, The Clockwerk heist is going to be put in this chapter. ENJOY!  
**

**I don't own Sly Cooper, and sadly, I never will. But, Lily Cooper and Dante Fox will forever belong to ME: Carmen Veiga ;P  
**

**Chapter Five  
**

**The Cycle Begins Again  
**

Lily opened the door to her motel room, kicked off her combat boots, and set down her groceries before belly flopping onto her bed. Her day had been long and exhausting. After she had left the museum with the blueprints she had remembered that she was low on food back at the motel and went into the local market. If the tourists in the museum tour were bad enough, the crowd in the market was ten times as worse. Money wasn't an issue here. Lily had traveled to a lot of places over the past two years, and had gotten plenty of jobs that paid good money, so she was fine in that department. The issue was that she couldn't get to half the things she needed due to people shoving each other, and her, to get to where they needed to go. She had almost been at her wits end and was about to resort to stealing the supplies she needed, but she diminished that thought quickly. As patiently as she could, she waited and finally had everything she needed.

Now the brunette was as tired as hell and wanted to do nothing more but fall asleep in her bed. But, she knew that looking over the blueprints was the main priority, and needed to be done as soon as possible. Sighing and sitting up, the raccoon grabbed the parchment from where she had dropped it on her night table. Taking it over to the room's desk, she layed the blueprints out in front of her.

"Okay, so if I come in from the roof, I'll be in the Prehistoric History Floor. From there if I head along this hallway I'll end up in the Government History Floor. All I have to do is somehow take down the security system. Nothing but a splice clip won't fix. From there it should be pretty safe to head onto the Criminal History wing..."

That's when Lily noticed something. These blueprints looked very different from the ones that she had looked over before. Usually they were made with much thicker paper but the feel of this felt like...copy paper.

Lily sat looking at the copies with a sore jaw as it reached the floor. She didn't know what hurt more, her jaw, or her pride, knowing that someone had a better plan and had executed it far before her own. This changed the entire layout of the operation she was going to do. Now she had to add in the factor of another person, or persons, stealing the parts. Whatever kind of procedure she was making for herself, could soon become entire useless as she may arrive to find an empty room. If that were to happen, then the owl would be out there again, in the shadows, always the possibility it could be alive.

The raccoon's paw clenched tightly. No, she couldn't let that happen. Her eyes wandered to the motel window. The sun was just setting over Cairo's pyramids. If she was going to make her move, it had to be now.

She changed out of the tourist outfit and pulled on her thieving outfit, clipping her pocket watch around her neck. Flipping her now frayed hat onto her head, grabbing her cane and bag, she left the motel, not once looking back.

Ten minutes later she was running across the museum's rooftop, the early evening air filling her lung's and giving a small bit of relaxation to her mind. For her, It was only along the rooftops in the moonlight that she felt truly at peace and was able to experience genuine serenity. She found peace within what many consider to be a game of life and death. That only made her love it more. Though the sun's lights still glowed orange in the sky, it was close to disappearing beneath the horizon and allowing the moon to assume it's position.

She knew she would have to stay out of any sight, she laid down on the ceiling and felt the hard stone of the museum through her gloves and tasted wood as her cane was clenched within her teeth. She moved her body more and more, her mind always keeping track of the map she had memorized. She was so excited at the thought of her first real theft. She had stolen small pocket change, cracked a safe here and there, but nothing compared to the feeling of taking not only what many thieves wanted to claim as their prize, but the treasure itself had been one of the greatest criminals recorded in history. There was a flip to this feeling as well, for if she were to arrive and find a bare room, then there would always be the possibility that it's still there. She shuttered to think of the owl bathing in the rich moonlight as it's wings glided with the night air to seize it's prey. She had felt the sickening fear of the owl for too long, she will _not_ feel it again.

She grew slightly annoyed with the setting sun, her original tolerance was fading. While it might be a joy to gaze, all it did was cast frustrating glare in the corner of Lily's eye. As much as she would have preferred taking the owl during the cover of sweet night, she knew that if she waited even a second, then the chance of the parts being stolen by someone else skyrocketed. The paranoia in her mind was spreading like a wildfire, and there was nothing she could do. The only thing that would extinguish the maddening fire would be the sight of the parts, just waiting for her to take them.

She pressed her ear hard against the roof, in a vain attempt to hear guards chatting. She wished she had spent some time stealing some more pocket change in order to be able to afford listening devices or any other kind of gadgets , save for a pair of cheap binoculars. She looked ahead and saw that she could see none of the long skylights that she noted loomed over the long corridors. "_Idiot you couldn't even study the map right."_ she thought to herself and bit her paw in anger. She spat out her paw, groaned and continued on, hoping she would miraculously come upon the skylight that was above the parts, that part of she was sure of.

Lily began searching all over the roof looking for the skylight, but all the one she found had been for some other exhibits she didn't even take a second glance at. She found herself going up and around the museum with her body against the walls and ceiling for over an hour. Se explored every skylight and always came up dry. Her exhaustion kept tempting her to give up, but she pressed on, wanting her fear to be gone once and for all. Finally, she narrowed down that there was only one skylight left. Her frustration became so intense, that she abandoned the plan of complete stealth and instead began running across the roof. She saw her target get closer and closer as she ran, she felt so out of control that she might burst down through the window. She may have even done that, if not for the strange voice that she could hear through the glass.

"Inspector Fox...as beautiful and unpredictable as ever."

Lily fell down as the words fill her ears. Not only was there someone already there, but that obsessed fox she had been so thankful to be away from was there, along with someone else who was there with Lily's same goal. She considered all of these things and drowned out her ears as the fox was talking. Lily could tell that whatever she was saying was pretty insulting.

The brunette dusted herself off and got back up, creeping toward the skylight and about to watch. Lily figured if this mystery thief would keep the nosy fox occupied long enough for her to take the parts for herself. Now that she had improvised a plan, Lily flipped her hair back with a smirk and came up upon the skylight-

"Someone already stole the parts?" the mystery thief cried out.

Lily stood frozen. This was not good. All of the planning and work she had gone to for nothing, all of the excitement she had was slipping away, and the fear she had, only grew.

She peered through the skylight and down into the room. Even though the moon was full and bright in the evening sky, it still gave her little seeing light. The only people she could make out were Carmelita, shock pistol aimed and ready, and another female officer who didn't look familiar to Lily. She was a purple tigress wearing a bright gold and red scarf wrapped around her head. From there and down she wore a blue tank top, brown shorts, and combat boots. In her hand she held a whip. The only one still hidden by the shadows was the other thief in the room.

The raccoon opened one of the glass panels of the skylight and cautiously made her way down into the room. If she was careful, she could get away from the museum without there being any fights. She needed to rethink her plan. Needed to find the people who took the parts, and steal them all back.

While Lily was making her way along the wall and out of sight, she honed in on the conversation still going on between the two cops and the thief. Except now the tigress was talking.

"It might not have been him Carmelita," she said, her voice thick with an accent that the brunette couldn't place. "The method of entry and guard casualties all point to this being a _Klaww Gang _job."

_"The Klaww Gang?" _Lily thought to herself.

Inspector Fox, now obviously annoyed with her partner retorted, "Constable Neyla, I allowed you to sit in on this stakeout as a favor to the Contessa... I _really _don't need any help."

Deciding to drown out the rest of the argument, Lily started making her way up the back stairway which led to a door leading out of the room. However, Carmelita's next sentence made her freeze in her tracks.

"_Facts! _Sly Cooper's right here! I caught him red handed."

At that moment, Lily's foot accidentally nudged a pot, which caused it to make a small sound, yet loud enough for the other thief to hear it. Their eyes met.

He was a tall raccoon who looked like he was about twenty five. His fur was gray and smooth looking with black ring markings on his tail. His outfit was similar yet much different from hers. Though they wore the same hats, gloves, and boots, his shirt was a different shade of blue and he had a small red leg pocket strapped to one of his legs. But it was his eyes and what he held in his hand that made her heart almost stop. Deep caramel brown, same as hers and a golden cane.

Without thinking, Lily bolted from the room and ran as fast as she could down the hallway. A million things were racing through her mind right now. Sly was here. She had finally found him. She was no longer an orphan now that she had found the last of her family. So, why did she suddenly feel so afraid about facing him?

She was brought out of her thoughts when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Stopping her fast sprint, she gazed down wide eyed at the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. A diamond that was hanging from a thin gold chain.

Her hands twitched. She had to have that necklace. She was just about to raise her cane and break the glass case holding the lovely treasure when there was a flash of blue light. Something hit her back, sending a painful electrical shock throughout her body. She fell to her knees and the rest of her body followed to the floor. The last thing she saw before blacking out was a pair of black army boots.

Lily's eyes slowly opened a few minutes later, letting out a low groan as every part of her body screamed in pain. She squeezed her eyes shut as her vision swam for a few seconds. That's when the voice came.

"You're finally awake."

The raccoon's eyes shot open and she lifted her head. At first, she thought Carmelita was standing in front of her, since this person was a fox, but as her vision finally cleared, she mentally diminished that thought.

He was a young fox about the age of sixteen. His hair was as black as night and spiked up like a porcupine. His eyes were a dark amber color that seemed to burn, like they were two live fires. The fur on the rest of his body was similar to Carmelita's, but was a darker shade of orange. His attire was a black leather jacket which was worn open and showed a white wife beater underneath. Black gloves covered his hands while faded jeans covered his legs and black army boots were on his feet. A shock pistol was held in his right hand while his left hand held what looked like a watch. He looked very similar to the Inspector, just more masculine and slightly more muscular. Not to mention he was very handsome. "_Wait, why the hell am I thinking that?" _Lily thought.

At that moment she was distracted from the fox when she realized she was sitting up against a wall. What surprised her even more was that she wasn't tied up in any way and she still had her cane with her.

She looked up and glared at the fox. "If shooting girls in the back is the way that you ask them out on dates, then I'm not interested."

His laugh only added fuel to the fire of her anger. "Why in the hell would I ask you out? Cops don't date thieves, sweetheart."

It took all of the raccoon's will power not to stand up and punch him. Not that she would be able to anyway with the pain that was still running through her body. "I'm guessing that you're working with that bitch of a cop in the other room, right?" This caused the Reynard to point his shock pistol at her face.

**(A.N: To anyone who doesn't know, Reynard, dog, and Tod are names for a male fox, but the last two are uncommon. Just like vixen is used for a female fox.)**

"Don't you dare talk about my sister like that."

Lily raised an eyebrow. So Carmelita had a little brother? Huh, imagine that.

"So you _are_ related to Carmelita."

The Reynard looked at the raccoon suspiciously. "What's it to you, ringtail?"

Lily stared at him for a moment. Then she burst out laughing.

The fox looked at her like she was crazy. "What's so funny?"

"Wow, you really are your sister's brother," she said after her laughing fit subsided, "that was probably the most pathetic insult I've ever heard."

His eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but then a smirk came over his features. This didn't go unnoticed by Lily.

The Reynard lifted his left hand and let what he was holding dangle in front of him. What the brunette thought was just a regular old watch turned out to be her pocket watch. Her eyes widened slightly in shock before her brow furrowed deeply and she growled, "Give it back."

He turned it over in the palm of his hand and read the quote on the back, "_Best Friends Forever and Always." _he turned his gaze back to Lily. "Seeing as you wouldn't have any use for this besides just stealing it, I think it would be fair if I took it off your hands."

What happened next was something the Reynard didn't see coming. Lily launched herself at him and pinned him against the opposite wall, her cane pressed to his throat and murder in her eyes. Unfortunately for her, she was still weak from the shock pistol, so he easily switched their positions so it was the raccoon pinned against the wall with her arms held firmly at her sides. This just provoked her more. She started writhing and kicking out, screaming at him to let her go.

"Would you shut up!" he hissed. He waited until her struggles lessened and finally stopped. The Reynard was now face to face with a panting raccoon worn out from her thrashing, but the rage in her eyes didn't dim. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay?"

"Just give me my goddamn pocket watch, pussytail!"

His eyes widened and he bit his lip. This girl had a mouth on her. "Would you just relax for a second, ringtail?"

"I am a ringtail, _thank you for noticing!" _she spat at him. "Now can you just give me my watch so I can leave?"

"Why in god's name would I even consider that? You're probably the one who broke in earlier and stole all the Clockwerk parts. You're a thief, it doesn't take a strong IQ to place a motive."

Lily let out a laugh, "I just found out that they were stolen five minutes ago. I was just going to leave."

The Reynard was silent for a moment. "Can I _at least_ know your name without you trying to take my head off?"

The brunette glared again, "Why should I tell you if you won't tell me yours?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing. "Dante. My name is Dante Fox. There, you happy?"

The frown didn't leave her face, but she answered "Rose Cain."

Dante still looked suspicious, but he finally released Lily from his hold. She snatched the pocket watch out of his hand and started running down the hallway, fighting her conscience to turn back. She then turned her head before turning the corner. Dante was still standing there, his amber eyes watching her go.

"I know that's not your real name."

Lily's eyes wandered to her cane and mentally facepalmed. Of course Carmelita probably told him all about the Cooper Clan and their history. Obviously he wouldn't believe her because she was carrying the fucking cane.

She turned back to Dante and said "My name is Lily Cooper, younger sister of Sly Cooper." She then turned on her heel and ran as fast as she could.

She didn't look back, and instead found the nearest route to the roof. She ran into the door of the stairway, but her legs kept moving, not allowing the door to get in the way. She ran up the concrete steps and shoved the next door open. As she walked onto the roof, she was ambushed by the uncomfortably close sirens and the distant sounds of helicopters.

Lily took one gaze at the moon. She needed to see it in it's full potential at least once tonight. She brisked the cool night air as her legs once more shifted into high gear and launched her forward. It didn't matter which direction, as long as it was away from the cops. She couldn't take another shot from that shock pistol. Her mind was in a haze and primal, the only thing that was concerning her: escape.

As the night air filled her tired lungs once more, the haze that clouded her mind was beginning to clear, and rational thoughts trickled back into her brain. She needed to get back to her motel room, as she possibly did the dumbest thing possible: revealing her alias as Rose Cain. That stupid Reynard was sure to look for that name anywhere in Cairo, so she needed to make sure everything was gone by the time he got there.

She saw out of the corner of her eye bright blue lights and a moving shadow. Her mind wasn't clear enough, all she knew was that she needed to get far away.

* * *

"Hey come back here ringtail!"

Carmelita's voice was a sweet, even if full of strife. Blue sparks flew all round him, giving a sense of wonder to the air as he dashed through it. Carmelita wasn't letting up, but it seemed that this time she was especially pissed off. She wasn't lining down her sights and trying to match his speed, she was firing as much as she could, hoping she would get lucky enough to hit her target. She clenched her teeth tightly as her finger continued to pull the trigger, almost as if she was trying to choke the gun.

Sly smirked, when his actions made Carmelita's rage grow, he thought it made things a bit more _interesting_. The game of cat and mouse had only gotten better over the years. The last time he saw her, he left her trapped on a bridge over a pit of magma. It's expected she would be a little sore.

He slid along cable after cable, always on the move and never letting his feet stop, not that they wanted to. This was all just a big game to him, and annoying people around him only made it more entertaining.

He turned his head only once, but when he did, he could faintly make out the sight of another raccoon running along, looking in terrible pain. He remembered that he saw her before in the museum exhibit.

"_Could that really be Lily?"_ he asked himself as continued running. His mind was brought back to reality with thunderous clap of a full power shock bullet hitting the ground next to him. He heard the van pulling up.

"We're heading toward your position, get in back so we can get out of here," Murray shouted in his ear piece. Sly saw the van slowing down in the next alley, and when Carmelita couldn't really make him out past the shadows of the nearby buildings, he lept down to the swerving pipe in the alleyway, and slid down and jumped into the van's open doors, which quickly closed behind him.

Carmelita didn't see him go down to the alleyway, but only saw the van driving away, in the same direction of a distant raccoon. She questioned how Sly could have gotten so far, but she knew that crafty raccoon could practically walk through walls. She jumped closer to it, and saw that it was running with a bit of a limp. Carmelita smiled, as one of her shots most likely grazed him. She knew this was a once in a lifetime chance.

She fired everything she could, trying to savor the moment, but also trying to hit her target as quickly as possible. But then it came, the shot that had managed to hit him. Carmelita could hear it, but all these years she had dreamed of the magical sound of electricity surging through fur as a high pitched scream broke through the night. Now that it rang in her ears, it felt a little disappointing. Loud and painful of course, but not as satisfying as she had hoped.

While Carmelita was caught in thought, she didn't notice the smoking raccoon fall off the edge of the roof. When she looked again, the raccoon was gone, but she heard something rather distinctive the next second...

_**THUD**_

Sly, Bentley, and Murray jumped when something landed on the roof of the still moving van, causing a massive thud to echo in their ears. The raccoon looked up to the inside part of the roof. Whatever it was, it wasn't very big.

"Murray, stop the van," Sly commanded.

"But, what about the cops?" The hippo asked while he slowly relinquished his foot from the gas pedal.

"I'll be quick." With that, Sly carefully climbed out the passenger window, his hand clamping onto his head to keep the wind from taking his hat. What he saw on the roof made his heart almost stop.

Lily was laying face down on the van's roof unconscious. Her fur was smoking and slightly ruffled while her dark bangs blew softly across her face.

The older raccoon reached forward and nudged the brunette's shoulder. "Lily?" he was trying to keep his voice steady, but it cracked slightly.

After a few seconds, the younger raccoon stirred. Sly watched in anxious silence as she slowly opened her eyes. Deep caramel brown, just like his. She winced as she lifted her head slightly and turned it to where the older raccoon was. "Sly?" she whispered.

The silence was then broken by Bentley yelling at Sly to get back in the van as police sirens blared in their ears. Seeing as his sister was in no position to move, the raccoon climbed onto the roof and gently held her bridal style. He then made a mad dash for the back of the van, throwing the doors open and slipping inside just as Murray floored it. Lily visibly flinched as she and Sly were flung against one of the van's walls. After what seemed like hours, the gang was headed out of Cairo.

"So Sly, what was that thing that landed on the roof?" Bentley turned in the passenger seat to look at the raccoon. His eyes widened behind his glasses when he realized who Sly was holding.

"Sly... is that..."

The turtle couldn't even finish the sentence, he just sat there with his mind twisting in every direction.

By this time, Lily had made her brother let go of her, telling him that she was fine. However, when she stood up, her vision started swimming.

"Are you okay, Lily?" came Sly's voice.

She gave a single shake of her head, before everything in her line of vision slid sideways as she fell to the floor.

**Post notes- C.V: DUH DUH DUUUUUUUH! HOORAY! SLY AND LILY FINALLY MET! Now what's going to happen? All will be revealed in the next chapter. Make sure you review, byyyye!**


	6. Chapter 6:Training Fails

**Author's notes- C.V: *Starts speaking with an Italian accent* ~ELLLO EVERYONE!~ I really hope that you liked the last chapter. Now we've finally gotten to Dimitri's episode. I wonder what's gonna happen! ****~PASTA~**

**NH1220: Why are you talking with an accent?**

**C.V: *switches back to American accent* 'Cause it's fun, dude. **

**NH1220: Whatever.**

**C.V: GABUSCUS I CAN SPEAK CANADIAN!**

**Dante Knox: I CAN SWING MY SWORD, SWORD. I CAN SWING MY SWORD, SWORD!**

**NH1220: *facepalm***

**I don't own Sly Cooper, or Tobuscus for that matter *goes into emo corner*. Lily Cooper and the rest of my OCS belong to me. SO NO STEALING THEM!**

**Chapter Six:**

**Training Fails**

_"Lily!"_

Sly was immediately on his feet as the brunette started falling. He moved forward quickly and caught her before she hit the floor. His first thought was that he was surprised at how light she was. The older wondered how he hadn't noticed it earlier when he had been carrying her.

He was distracted from this thought when he felt something warm and sticky on his hand that was supporting Lily by her shoulder. Lifting his hand up he gasped when he saw it covered in blood.

"Bentley! She needs help!'' Luckily the turtle had been getting out the medical kit when he had saw the brunette's fur smoldering. He climbed over the seat and made his way over to Sly.

By now the raccoon had placed Lily gently on the floor and turned her on her side so he could see her back better. Not only did he see that blood was seeping through the fabric of her shirt quickly, but there was a cut that went from her right shoulder and sideways until it ended right under her left ribcage.

"How did she get a wound this bad?" Bentley asked out loud.

Something clicked in Sly's mind. "Carmelita."

The turtle nodded his head. Nothing else was needed to be said, they all knew.

After looking at the brunette's back for a minute, Bentley turned to the older raccoon. "I can't see how bad the wound is while her shirt is still on. Would it be okay if-"

Before he even finished the sentence, Sly had rolled up the back of Lily's shirt to her shoulders. Luckily only her back was too them and there wasn't a lot to look at anyway.

"Well, the cut actually isn't deep, but it looks like she's suffering from a mild concussion. Even _I_ know that the shock pistol turned up to the highest level can't do that in one blast. Something must have happened before Carmelita shot her." Bentley explained while bandaging the brunette's back.

Once she had been patched up, Sly settled his sister back into his lap and rested her head against his chest. The younger raccoon groaned and nuzzled to get closer to the warmth that was encasing her.

"Just relax, we'll find a place for you to rest soon." the older whispered gently to her, though he doubted that she could hear him.

The subject then switched to the stolen Clockwerk parts, and the supposed Klaww Gang who had taken them. Sly was only half listening. His main focus was Lily.

He was right when he thought he had seen her in the Clockwerk exhibit. His brain then denied it, telling him that his guilty conscience was playing with his head. But then she had been following him when he was running from Carmelita. Again he had denied it. But here she was. Sly only hoped that Bentley was right and it wasn't too late for them to save her.

* * *

_Her boots pounded on the hard earth as she ran, her breath coming out fast and her muscles burning. She wasn't exactly sure what she was running from, but no matter what, she had to get away._

_Darkness engulfed everything around her until she couldn't even tell what direction she was going or if she running forward at all. What made it worse was that a heavy snowstorm started, half blinding her vision and threatening her stride with icy patches. Next thing she knew she lost her footing and face planted into the snow._

_That's when she smelled it. The air was so thick with the stench that it made her want to gag. Freeing her head from the snow she brought her hand to her face to wipe the remains of it off her fur. She forced down a scream when she saw dark red on her glove._

_Lily's eyes looked up, coming face to face with the reason for the air's stench. Blood. Hundreds of bodies. Men, women, and even children. All splattered on the snow. But it was the body at her feet that freed the scream from her throat._

_**"JADE!"** the raccoon fell to her knees and cradled the jaguar's body in her arms. The blonde's limbs were twisted in every way, even ways that Lily didn't even think was possible. A huge wound was opened in her chest, showing broken, jagged ribs. Her green eyes that were always bright were now empty and looking up at the black inked sky._

_But the horror had only started. The brunette got up and started walking through the sea of corpses. It was then that Lily noticed that the blood had started to rise like water above her ankles. She started running again her movements becoming sluggish and heavy as the blood rose higher and higher. It was at her waist when she halted, her eyes widening and pupils dilating in complete fear. Up on a white covered perch sat her worst nightmare: Clockwerk. At his feet laid the dead bodies of Murray and Bentley. And as Lily looked to the owl's already raised talon, she saw the broken and bleeding form of Sly being held by his throat in the bird's claws. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out._

_Clockwerk's yellow eyes switched from the older raccoon to Lily. "__Never forget child, the moon will be eclipsed by the wings of your death.__"_ he then released Sly, who fell in a broken heap to the ground. His enormous wings then opened and he lunged at her, letting out a blood-chilling screech.

**_"NO!"_**

Lily's eyes snapped open and she shot up quickly, regretting it seconds later when pain spread throughout her entire head and body. She gripped the back of her head and gritted her teeth. _"Deal with the pain." _she thought. The pain subsided almost immediately.

The raccoon started taking in her new surroundings. She was sitting up on a bed in a small bedroom. Moonlight was shining through the room's single window, basking everything in silver. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the brunette could make out the form of her brother, sleeping in a wooden chair at the end of her bed. His arms were crossed over his chest and his hat was tilted over his drooped head. His quiet snores told her that he was fast asleep. Lily breathed a small sigh of relief; her dream hadn't come true, not yet.

Her hand then flew to her right shoulder as a flash of pain seared through it. Her fingers passed over the bandages that spread from her shoulder and halfway down her torso. She took note that her thieving outfit had been replaced by a black tank top and a pair of light blue sweatpants.

Her focus then shifted to Sly. The raccoon had mumbled something inaudible. A few seconds later his eyes cracked opened. They were slightly bloodshot and shadows had formed under the lids, but they lit up quickly when he saw Lily looking at him. "How you feeling, kid?" his tone was light and teasing, but also concerned.

"A little better thanks." The brunette's eyes drifted over to the digital clock on the dresser behind Sly, which read eleven thirty. "How long have I been out for?"

"About two days."

"...Two days?"

"You can't get to Paris from Cairo overnight." The older stood up and stretched his stiff back.

Lily looked out the window. Right off in the distance stood the dark silhouette of the Eiffel Tower.

"We drove here right after we left Cairo," Sly explained sitting down at the end of the mattress. "You've been out since Carmelita blasted you with her shock pistol. Bentley was able to patch up that cut on your back, but you had a mild concussion."

"So Dante didn't blast me in the back twice after all," she said, more to herself then Sly.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just talking to myself."

Both raccoons looked up when a knock sounded on the door. Bentley's head stuck out as it opened. "Sly, we got some information on the first Klaww Gang member. You might want to look at this." Then he noticed Lily was looking at him with a curious gaze. "Hello Lily. Glad to see you're okay. Do you feel well enough to come out here with us?"

"I think so. I'll be there in a minute."

The brunette placed her bare feet on the floor and slowly stood up, grabbing hold of Sly's outstretched arm for balance as she wobbled slightly. When she assured him that she was alright, he handed her a blue hooded sweatshirt before leading her out of the bedroom.

They came into what Lily assumed was the family room of the house. The living room had a small coffee table complete with an old couch, armchair, and T.V. The kitchen was off to the right while the center of the room was taken over by three computer monitors. Bentley was currently typing away at the data while next to him stood a pink hippo wearing a light blue shirt and eating a bag of Cheese Doodles. He introduced himself as Murray.

"I'm guessing that you guys are planning on stealing the Clockwerk parts back, right?"

Her brother, who looked a little surprised that she knew this, replied, "Yeah, the first member is located here in Paris. How do you know about the Clockwerk parts anyway?"

"You pick up on a lot of information when you travel around the world," the brunette said, "and I was planning on stealing the parts for myself anyway."

Sly didn't respond to this, and Lily didn't expect him to. She had a feeling that the older raccoon would think that she would have no idea about the robotic owl, since many of her memories were still missing. She turned her attention to the monitors. "So, who's our first target?"

The raccoon cleared his throat and explained, "I had to call on a few favors to get the goods on the Klaww Gang's local operator: Dimitri. A sort of - underworld celebrity. Equally at home with high class art circles and shady back alley crimes. He was once a passionate young art student, who worked hard to develop his own visionary style. Unfortunately the art world wasn't quite ready for his _Kinetic Esthetic_. So he gave them what they wanted, and started forging old masterpieces. His way of punishing those with bad tastes."

"Seems like a great guy." Lily commented sarcastically. This earned a chuckle from Murray.

"Dimitri now runs a nightclub on the west side," Sly continued. "The thumping music, colorful light shows, and a _hint _of danger, lure in hip young patrons from all over. And it's here, hidden somewhere, where we'll find the Clockwerk tail feathers."

The gang was silent for a few moments. "What would Dimitri want with a bunch of old robotic tail feathers?" Lily piped up.

Sly shrugged, "What he plans to do with the part is beyond me," a determined gleam in his eye showed as he looked back up at the monitors that was now showing the lizard's mugshot, "but those plans end, _tonight."_

The guys then started what looked like the usual routine around the safe house. Bentley was assigning a job to Sly while Murray started drawing in a random coloring book while finishing his cheese doodles. Lily stood there awkwardly. Should she be doing something too, or just keep standing there like a complete idiot? "_Tough Choice."_ she thought to herself

It wasn't before he was almost out the door, when Sly seemed to remember that she was standing there. "Sorry, Lil. Forgot you were there for a second. Why don't you go back and sleep a little more? You might be feeling better, but you're not fully functional yet."

The brunette nodded and made her way back to her bedroom, secretly happy to get some more rest, yet wondering if there was anything to help out the guys on their heist.

* * *

Sly tapped the last number of the code into the satellite before it redirected itself at the antenna on the safe house. He was glad to see all of the criminal records and interviews of Dimitri to suddenly pop up on screen. To Sly, it was a dazzling light show of crime and theft.

Bentley stood next to him, his hand rubbing against his chin as his eyes scanned word upon word of information. Sly always knew his friend to always have a cheerful state of mind, until it was quickly brushed over by a heavy dosage of fear and anxiety. But then there were the times were he seemed to abandon all emotion and allow his mind to drift through the cyber realm of information and emerge with a plan and gradually return to his regular self. At this time though, the only thing that was going through his head was hard cold logic.

Sly knew that he need to ask the question, but at this point his companion might not be so understanding. However, if he didn't, he'd feel like he'd be betraying his entire ancestry, so he let his mouth open and allowed the words to flow out.

"Bentley, can I train Lily to be a better thief?"

The turtle only continued to stare at the monitors, but after a moment, his eyes followed a path that led up to Sly's face, his head followed closely behind. After his head came into position, it was like he was frozen in his emotionless glare. Not a word was uttered for nearly five minutes until Bentley cut through the silence with "I know you feel obligated Sly, but she's just gone through a lot, and personally I don't think that she has the necessary skills to survive in this line of work." the turtle kept his voice low. The younger raccoon just happend to be in the living room playing video games with Murray.

"But she can," Sly retorted, "I can teach her what it means to be a thief. I can show her how to do the spire jump, the rail slide, all of that."

There was another long period of silence, as Bentley only looked at the information in his head, but judging from the stoic expression glued to his face, he was still not swayed. Sly clentched his hands and heard the small sound of blue leather squishing together in sheer will.

"I _know_ that she can be a great thief, she just needs someone to help her, to guide her...to set her free."

Bentley gave a great sigh, and his face broke the stoic mold and he was able to squeeze the bridge of his nose past his glasses and squinted his eyes. "Alright fine, but I want you to know that if you encourage her into this life, she can never go back. She'll never have the chance for a normal life."

"But like me she's not a normal person."

"Not unless you let her be."

Sly felt a flooding of guilt drown his mind as the reality became all to clear to him. He had never known anything but the misery of loss and the rush of the night, who was he to force it onto Lily while she still had a chance to live a normal life? He knew that she must be wanted by Interpol at this point, but she still had time to slip under the radar, as the only thing she was technically guilty of was breaking and entering, or at least as far as they knew. She could live a life under a new identity, and wouldn't have to look over her shoulder her entire life. Sly felt that that was part of the fun, but not everyone was like him, maybe not even Lily.

Sly's mouth became dry after it loomed open while he remained deep in thought. He had come to a conclusion at last, but his heart felt a tear running down the middle.

The raccoon licked his lips, putting some moisture into the barren surface. He could finally say what he needed to.

"Lily should-"

"Become a thief."

The voice came from behind them, and Sly whirled around to see Lily standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and an air of cockiness illuminating from her. Her tank top, sweatpants and sweatshirt had been replaced by her thieving outfit, her shirt now a different one since the other one was ruined with blood.

Sly stood stuck to the ground, his mind still in a violent whiplash from Bentley's argument, and could not believe that he saw his sister take such a proactive approach.

"Lily, I-"

"No Sly. My path in life is the one _I_ choose to walk, and I choose the way of the thief. You can help me become one, or can you let me go out as an inexperienced novice and watch me in guilt. The choice is yours."

The older wiped the sweat off of his forehead, took a deep breath and answered "Alright, let's get started."

* * *

The afternoon sun bleached the french forest in a near blinding light. Lily adjusted her hat over her eyes, providing protection to her sight, or as much as could have been given. Even the shadow that graced her eyes had a scorching radiance. The sun's glow also caused some sweat to surface underneath her fur. Every step, even on dirt, felt hot through her boots, she was even worried that they might melt. Murray had driven the two raccoons out of Paris and into the countryside just this morning, and even then it was scorching hot.

"Call me "old fashioned", but practicing patience and acrobatics in the middle of a heat wave doesn't seem like the best idea," Lily said with a sharp groan and rolling eyes.

She noticed out of the corner of her eye, that her brother turned his head with a smirk on his face and the usual gleam in his brown eyes. He stood up from his crouching position and walked toward her.

"I admit it would have been more practical to train you during the night. But lesson number one, if your approach is practical, then they'll see it coming, and from there, a simple taking of a necklace will lead to blood being spilled."

Lily crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. The shadows that masked her eyes were not very thick, and Sly could see the look of disbelief as clear as day. She wasn't going to turned by explanation and fundamentals, what she truly needed, were actions. He looked behind him to see the open field of air that lay before the edge of the cliff that he had brought them to. He was hoping to to detail what he had planned, but what he now had in mind worked a lot better, and besides, long drawn out explanations were not his thing anyway.

"Fine," Sly said, "this cliff has about, oh I don't know, about a mile of dropping distance, and at the bottom is small shack with about two bandits, each holding a small satchel of gold. They're on the run and paranoid, checking every possible entrance for anyone. Let me show you how to do it right."

Lily dropped her arms and moved closer as he walked toward the ledge, this she simply _had_ to see. She expected him to hook his cane to the top of the cliff and start to slowly work his way down, but to her shock, he walked to the ledge, turned around and looked at her, spread his arms out wide with a small smirk and fell backwards off of the cliff.

"_SLY_!" Lily screamed as she reached out to grab her brother, who continued to fall with his back to the wind. She came close enough to reach out over the edge, but she didn't dare go a millimeter further. Any slight loss of balance could lead her aspirations to be splattered like her own body would become. She couldn't think of losing Sly again, but somehow she knew that he would be alright, or at least she prayed he we would be. She jumped backwards, not wanting to be anywhere near the edge again. Lily stood frozen for a moment, silently hoping that Sly would be safe.

She summoned up a large amount of will, and shuffled herself forward, a few inches at a time. The dry dirt beneath her boots felt like chains as she walked, telling her that the only sight she would see would be that of scarlet despair splattered across the foot of the hill. At the same time, she couldn't believe that her brother would leap off to such a fate, that he must have a backup plan. While her mind allowed her to see the light, her emotions held her down with fear.

When she finally got to the edge, she looked down. What met her gaze wasn't anything red, but rather something blue and white moving slower and slower out of sight. She squinted her eyes to make out what the blue mark was amongst the green trees. She resolved to take out her binocucom that Bentley had given her just a few hours ago and pressed it against her eyes and directed it down. She couldn't believe what she saw. It was the Cooper gang symbol floating gently down and being slightly rippled by the wind. She stood in confusion while gazing down at the odd image that was before her. However, her mind was soon cleared by a gust of wind that rolled against the cliff and bounced back towards the Cooper gang symbol, which allowed her to see a familiar raccoon hanging on to each edge of the symbol. She laughed to herself at how naive she could have been to think that while her brother was teaching her, his own life would fall prey to one of the first demonstrations.

She saw how he rode the wind with such precision over the small shack, and eventually landed gracefully on top with the symbol breaking in many bits around him as he landed, showering him in glistening white and blue. It was truly amazing for her to behold. He slipped off of the rooftop and into the shadow of the shack, almost being seen by possibly the ugliest gorilla that Lily had ever seen in the current disguise he was wearing. He looked around outside of the door with a panicked expression on his face for about five minutes before he slowly closed the door. _Scared shitless _Lily laughed to herself.

Lily waited for even the slightest movement from even the smallest thing, as the parasitic vines of tension slowly clenched down on all portions of her mind. She tried hard to try to look away, but it was like being glued to your favorite television program, unable to look away for a mere second, as everything could change in that one small increment of time. A the time slowly passed, she knew that she was not going to be able to see her brother's example if she stood in her place. Yet it was the closest thing to a dead center view of the shack, that way she could see the left and right moderately. But apparently the sides were all she could rely on.

_Impracticality_

The sentence jolted through her head many times when she considered her options. "_The practical thing would be to stay and watch the front, as it allows better overall view but not perfect gaze at the sides and nothing of the back with the front being the most predominant." _Lily thought to herself as her hands moved their way up and rested upon the edge of her chin, creating a picture of determined contemplation.

As her mind rapped itself around the task before her, her eyes wandered to the side, which held the sight of another great ledge jutting out from the cliff. It was identical to the one she currently stood upon and was at a fairly close distance away. From its placement, she could tell that it would give a good view of the right side of the shack, however it would severely limit the view of the left and front side. Sly had obviously chosen this location well, choosing to view one side of a criminals hideout instead taking in an all-around view was certainly _impractical. _She felt a sense of relief come over her, as she now had another viewpoint to go to and learn from, she felt as though she was advancing pretty well. That sweet surge of relief soon turned to bitter frustration. As she turned to move toward the cliff, her eye found yet _another_ cliff to the left. She stood frozen, mentally kicking herself for not noticing these things earlier.

_"Even having me make a 50/50 choice on view of the side, once again impractical you sneaky bastard." _Lily thought to herself. She realized that Sly wasn't going to wait for her, so she needed to make a decision fast. She wished she had a coin she could toss to tell her which way to go, but the only thing in her wallet was dust. Her eyes dashed back and forth between the ledges, an on-looker would say she looked like she was watching tennis. Lily finally came up with a route and took it, dashing to the right and pressing on as hard as she could, trying to stay far enough away from the edge.

Lily finally reached the ledge, in time to see the blazing sun shine off of a golden cane as it yanked a large gorilla through a window and into the shadows. Her hoarse breathing kept her from yelling out in pride that she had managed to follow Sly's advice and ascend, if only slightly, in her training. Her victory was cut short as the realization that one criminal remained came to her mind. Her instant thought was to run to the ledge the farthest away from her, as Sly would say it would be "impractical" to have the proper viewpoints close together. Lily began to hate that word.

She then felt her feet move in a quick succession underneath her, leaving a large trail of dust and dirt floating in the orange afternoon sun. Air rushed past her face like bullets as she moved her body as fast as she could. The wind began to make her eyes water, but she kept them open, never losing sight of the far ledge. She knew that she needed determination to reach her objectives, and if she couldn't handle running from point A to point B, or even a fast wind and watery eyes, then she had no business being a thief. While these things raced through her mind almost as fast as she ran, she didn't notice that she had already passed the far ledge about four paces behind.

Fortunately, reality finally hit her in time for her to spin around and race back toward the correct ledge. As she moved she kicked up large amounts of soft powdery dirt, which the wind so kindly threw back into her face. She winced slightly as the unrelenting dust pelted her eyes, but she pressed on through. She finally reached the edge of the final ledge and allowed her muscles to relax as she watched Sly's final display. She scanned that side of the shed, intent on finding some way that she could see what was going on. After about a minute her impatience grew and she soon became worried, but as the passing thought of leaving that ledge floated into her thoughts, her mind was quickly wrenched away from her anxiousness by the loud and harsh sound of wood being smashed. She looked to see that the other gorilla was laid out on the ground surrounded by many pieces of broken wood. Over him stood a lone figure with a light blue shirt and a gleaming golden cane on his shoulder. He placed his foot triumphantly on top of his enemies chest. "_You show off!"_ Lily thought to herself. Sly looked up toward her position and made a playful salute along with a very crude tongue sticking out. Lily promptly returned the gesture with a very impolite hand gesture. "_There's your damn __impracticality."_

Sly laughed to himself and began to make his way to the long and steep wall of the cliff as he thought "_She is going to be one piece of work." _He reached the wall, smiled, and began to climb up, knowing that for the first time ever in his life, he had flesh and blood family waiting for him.

**Author's notes- HOLY MAMMA JAMMA! IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! **School has been eating away with me along with Marching Band, AND I'VE HAD NO FREE TIME AT ALL! So today, I finally had a day when I had no activities after school, so I decided to hang with Nighthunter and we decided to publish this. Make sure you review! Marching band ends in two weeks so that should give me more free time. ADIOS!


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